Archive for the ‘heath insurance’ Category

Why Doesn’t America have Single-Payer Health Insurance?

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/09/16/The_Future_of_Health_Care_The_Candidates_Plans

Daniel Kessler and E. Richard Brown, Health Advisors to the John McCain and Barack Obama Presidential campaigns, respectively, discuss why neither candidate supports a single-payer insurance system for the United States.

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Health care is a major issue in the current presidential campaign. Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have laid out very different visions, and each believes his plan is best for our nation’s citizenry.

Come learn about each plan from the top policy advisors of each candidate, and take the opportunity to ask your own questions and get answers – The Commonwealth Club of California

Daniel Kessler is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. In addition to his Hoover appointment, he is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, where he teaches courses on economics, public policy, and the health care industry. Among his recent publications are, with Mark McClellan, The Effect of Hospital Ownership on Medical Productivity, forthcoming in the RAND Journal of Economics, and Designing Hospital Antitrust Policy to Promote Social Welfare, which appeared in Frontiers in Health Policy Research. He is the holder of a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Dr. E. Richard Brown is a professor at the UCLA School of Public Health and the founder and director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. He received his PhD in sociology of education from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Brown has studied and written extensively about a broad range of issues and policies that affect the access of disadvantaged populations to health care. His recent research focuses on health insurance coverage, the lack of coverage, and the effects of public policies, managed care, and market conditions on access to health services, particularly for disadvantaged populations, ethnic minorities, and immigrants. Dr. Brown and the Center’s studies of health insurance coverage, uninsurance, and eligibility for public programs have been used by California’s governors, legislators, and advocates in crafting health insurance legislation and programs.

Duration : 0:4:2

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If you do not have heath insurance and you spent $ on doctors bills for school purposes is it tax deductible?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

In may i got accepted into the nursing program. In order to be in the program you have to get a medical evaluation. I do not have health insurance and i spent 500 at the doctors. Can i write that off on my taxes for school purposes?

Maybe. IF you itemize, you can deduct as an itemized deduction the amount of your med expenses for the year that is over 7.65% of your income. And itemizing gives you no tax benefit unless you have tax liability for the year.

Unless you have a lot of other medical expenses, the $500 isn’t going to give you any tax benefit.

I think my childs counselor is billing my heath insurance for services not rendered?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

how can I find out if someone is billing my healt insurance for services she has not recived. I know there is alot of fraud in this department worldwide but is there a way to prove. This woman is supposed to be helping my child and she has not. She said that my insurance no longer covers her in her practice, But she has barely seen my child..I need to know how can I find out?

Your insurance company sends you an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) for every claim that they receive. Those are important documents – 1) it helps you make sure that the bills you receive from your doctors are accurate and 2) if a claim goes through for services you never received, then you can notify your insurance company. Every insurer’s EOB has a phone number listed on it – sometimes they even have a separate fraud and abuse prevention #.

If you don’t pay attention to your EOBs when they come in the mail, you can always call your insurance company – they can either reprint your EOBs, print a report for you showing what claims have come through under your account, or verbally review them with you on the phone. Also, many insurers have an option where you can register on their website and see claims processed under your policy.

There are definitely many options where you can confirm what has been billed on your family’s behalf to your insurer. Definitely let your insurer know if your provider is billing for services you/your child never received. Billing fraud drives up the cost of care for everyone. Its only a small minority of providers who are unethical enough to deliberately fabricate services to bill, but those who do that sort of thing unfortunately contribute to driving up the cost of care for everyone.

Was I hired to stand in the way of health care reform?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Hi, I’m Andy and I did all the damage I could being a spokesjerk for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Now it’s time to move on to the next hugely irresponsible, profit-driven monopoly.

Tell me where I should work next: http://facebook.com/sickforprofit

NOTE: You must be logged in to Facebook and be a fan of the Sick for Profit Page in order to leave a message telling us where Andy should work next. Thanks!

Duration : 0:1:23

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Weekly Address: Myths and Morality in Health Insurance Reform

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

President Obama debunks the myths around health reform, and discusses the public option proposal in which many of them are rooted. But he focuses his address on the stark moral and historical turning point at which we find ourselves. August 22, 2009. (Public Domain)

Duration : 0:6:34

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Is heath insurance paid independently out of pocket deductible ?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

We pay $289 per month for health insurance for my wife and my daughter independently out of pocket. Do we get any sort of tax deduction or credit for this ???

No – you were able to for a while, but that was stopped years ago.

Sen. Dick Durbin talks about being without health insurance

Monday, March 1st, 2010

So 1 in 6 Americans don’t have health insurance, but did you know Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was once one of them?

At the Center for American Progess, Durbin recounted his personal experience as a young father without health insurnace and how Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC helped care for his infant daughter through a program they have to assist uninsured Americans.

Duration : 0:8:9

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Who else thinks thinks these heath insurance mandates are crazy?

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

I’ve been layed-off and can’t afford a pot to pee in.Now they’re going to force me to buy insurance or face fines/jailtime.If thats thier "health care reform" then I hope it fails.This dissapionts me greatly.Its not the change I voted for.

1st off, I hope you have a job by the year 2013 or 2014, since even IF these health insurance mandates become effective, wont happen till then.

Also like the other poster stated, there will be subsides for people who cant afford. This is for the people who can afford but CHOOSE NOT TO.

good luck

Health Insurance Companies

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

2008 Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader answers a question about the role of health insurance companies in his national heath care plan. From the Open the Debates super rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 4, 2008. Video by Karen Kilroy – http://karenkilroy.com

Duration : 0:3:33

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BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Single Payer Health Insurance | PBS

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Buy the DVD: http://www.shoppbs.org/entry.point?entry=3574816&source=PBSCS_YOUTUBE_ BMJL4306_052209:N:DGR:N:N:609:QPBS Washington’s abuzz about health care, but why isn’t a single-payer plan an option on the table? Public Citizen’s Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Physicians for a National Health Program’s Dr. David Himmelstein on the political and logistical feasibility of health care reform.

Duration : 0:32:50

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